204 HUMMING-BIRDS. 



are knocked down by men with long poles. Some place pots 

 of sulphur under the trees ; others are provided with torches 

 of pine-knots ; and the rest have guns. The birds continue to 

 pour in. The fires are lighted ; and a magnificent, as well 

 as almost terrifying, sight presents itself. The pigeons arrive 

 by thousands, alighting everywhere, one above another, till 

 solid masses, as large as hogsheads, are formed on the branches 

 all around. Here and there the perches give way with a 

 crash, and falling to the ground, destroy hundreds of the 

 birds beneath, forcing down the dense groups with which 

 every stick is loaded. The pigeons continue coming, and it 

 is past midnight before there is any sign of a decrease in their 

 numbers. The ground in all directions is strewed with 

 branches broken by the weight of the birds which have 

 pitched on them. By sunrise, the enormous multitude have 

 taken their departure, while wolves, foxes, and other animals 

 who had assembled to feast on the bodies of the slain, are 

 seen sneaking off. 



Audubon describes the flight of one of these almost solid 

 masses of birds pursued by a hawk ; now darting compactly 

 in undulating and angular lines, now descending close to the 

 earth, and with inconceivable velocity mounting perpendicu- 

 larly, so as to resemble a vast column, and then wheeling and 

 twisting within their continued lines, resembling the coils of a 

 gigantic serpent. Their assemblages greatly surpass in num- 

 bers those of the pinnated grouse already described. 



HUMMING-BIRDS. 



A considerable number of these gem-like members of the 

 feathered tribe make their appearance in summer, even as far 

 north as Canada, and on the sides of the hills rising out of 



